


Whirlybird

by Trinary



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy (Cartoon)
Genre: Adoption, Families of Choice, Fluff, Gen, Holoforms (Transformers), IDW Whirl is RBA Whirl's dad, Robots, Sometimes a family is an attack helicopter and a scraplet colony, Whirl doesn't know much about being a dad but he's trying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 05:58:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14326098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trinary/pseuds/Trinary
Summary: Cody speeds up, turns the corner, and blinks. There’s a girl hanging off Whirl. She looks about twelve, with a romper, green pigtails, and band-aids on her knees. Her legs kick in the air where she dangles from Whirl’s hand. She spots Cody and freezes. Her one eye is vibrant, unnatural yellow. There’s an autobot symbol on the romper, with the missing eye crossed out. She has big, clunky army boots, freckles, and two machine guns strapped to her back.“Uh,” Cody says.“You didn’t see nothin’,” the girl hisses.Whirl says, “he won’t tell anyone. Will you, Cody?”Cody has no idea what there is to tell, or who he’d tell it to. “No?”“Good.” Whirl lowers her hand until the girl’s boots hit the ground. The girl dusts herself off and gives Cody a terrifying gap-toothed grin. Whirl offers her own tentative smile. “Have you met my dad?”





	Whirlybird

**Author's Note:**

> This is very silly.

“How’s my lil’ whirlybird?” A girl’s voice pipes, from around the corner. “How you doin’? The academy treating you right? You getting plenty of flight time?”

“How did you get here?” Whirl asks, “I thought you weren’t supposed to—”

“ _Yeah_ , but—”

Cody doesn’t recognize the voice. He speeds up, turns the corner, and blinks. There’s a girl hanging off Whirl. She looks about twelve, with a romper, green pigtails, and band-aids on her knees. Her legs kick in the air where she dangles from Whirl’s hand. She spots Cody and freezes. Her one eye is vibrant, unnatural yellow. There’s an autobot symbol on the romper, with the missing eye crossed out. She has big, clunky army boots, freckles, and two machine guns strapped to her back.

“Uh,” Cody says.

“You didn’t see nothin’,” the girl hisses.

Whirl says, “he won’t tell anyone. Will you, Cody?”

Cody has no idea what there is to tell, or who he’d tell it to. “No?”

“Good.” Whirl lowers her hand until the girl’s boots hit the ground. The girl dusts herself off and gives Cody a terrifying gap-toothed grin. Whirl offers her own tentative smile. “Have you met my dad?”

Cody wasn’t aware Cybertronians _had_ dads. When he says as much, Whirl’s dad laughs.

“I’m kinda a special case. I found my lil’ whirlybird here packed into an engex crate. Just a soft little protoform! Then it turned out she wasn’t a protoform, just a carnivorous scraplet colony playing on my sympathies. But I was attached, by that point, even when she tried to chew on me. She always was cute as a button.”

“Carnivorous?”

Whirl’s dad taps his chin. “Metallivorous? Anyway, when the Rescue Academy opened, I knew she was perfect for it. You fleshlings have hardly any metal in you at all!”

Whirl squirms like her dad’s broken out the embarrassing baby pictures. “ _Dad._ Come on. Don’t tell him that.”

“You _are_ cute as a button, though.”

Cody’s noticed Whirl’s rations aren’t the same as the others’. For every cube of energon they get, Whirl gets a half-cube, and another of something shiny and silver as liquid mercury. Cody’d chalked it up to a helicopter thing, and hadn’t given it any more thought. He’s heard of scraplets, though. Whirl’s a sentient mass of robot-eating piranhas?

“You’re really not Cybertronian?” Cody asks.

Whirl’s dad waves a fist. “Hey. Hey! She’s as Cybertronian as me, pal, and don’t you forget it!”

Whirl pats him, placatingly. “You know that’s not what he meant. And, yeah. I’m not. You must’ve noticed my transformation sequence doesn’t line up right, especially around the windshield. My separate bits are dumb nanites—but all together, I do a pretty good imitation.”

“You’re not an imitation of anything, whirlybird. You’re a unique individual who deserves love and respect.”

“Are you quoting Rung?”

He drops to a mutter. “That obvious, huh?”

If there’s anything that living around giant robots has taught Cody, it’s how to take things in stride. That Whirl’s a scraplet colony and her dad’s a twelve-year-old girl barely registers on the _weird_ scale. He can totally deal with this. “If you’re Whirl’s dad, why haven’t you visited before?”

Whirl’s dad grimaces. “Oh, you know. Optimus and Ultra Magnus told me to stay away. Apparently I’m,” his fingers rise into air-quotes, “ _disruptive_ , and _terrifying to small children_ , and _stop doing that, Whirl, you’re making everyone uncomfortable, please leave_. So, holoform! They’ll never see through my cunning disguise.”

“He’s an attack helicopter,” Whirl says, helpfully.

His cunning disguise wouldn’t fool a toddler. Cody squints. “You’re both named Whirl?”

Whirl’s dad grimaces. “I’m _real_ bad with names. Plus, I hit the wrong line on the registry paperwork with my big meaty claws. Anyway, we’re both Whirl, now.”

Claws? What? Cody’s about to ask what an attack helicopter needs with _claws_ when the telltale thud of giant-robot footsteps approaches. Whirl’s dad shoots over and hides half behind Cody, missing eye concealed. Cody twists. “What—”

“I’m not supposed to be here, remember? Play along!”

Heatwave emerges from between two buildings. Cody doesn’t have the chance to say anything else. Whirl does her best to look like a model student who’d never do anything reckless. It doesn’t work.

Heatwave seems perplexed at the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar human. “Hey, Cody. Who’s your friend?”

“Wh—” Cody begins. Whirl’s dad stomps on Cody’s foot. “Ow! W… Wendy? Wendy Bird. That’s definitely her name.”

Whirl’s dad’s eye narrows. The machine guns stay turned away from Heatwave. All saccharine and cheerful, he says, “yep, that’s me! Wendy, a normal human child!”

Whirl winces.

Heatwave frowns. He checks the datapad in his hand. “We’re getting readings we shouldn’t. There’s no faction tag attached, but there’s an extra Cybertronian life sign in the area. It might be a sensor glitch.” He taps the datapad. “You haven’t seen anything, have you?”

“Nothing,” Whirl says.

“Nope,” Cody adds.

“Definitely don’t look in the abandoned packing plant by the docks,” Whirl’s dad says. Heatwave gives him a closer examination. He edges farther behind Cody. The holoform is _weird_ , up close, temperatureless and smooth as a plastic doll. The hair’s glitchy. A strand keeps clipping through itself. “Hey, don’t stare at me! I’m a shy little flower!”

“Right,” Heatwave says, doubtfully. “Well, I’m going to look around. If anything happens, call me.”

“Will do!” Whirl chirps. Heatwave leaves, finally, and Whirl focuses on her dad. “You have to get away from the docks.”

Whirl’s dad stretches. “Nah, it’s cool. I lied. I’m in an empty warehouse to the north. It’s a tight fit, but, eh, I’m flexible. I’ll be out of here in no time.”

There’s a long pause.

“Is… Everything okay?” Whirl asks.

“I… think I might be stuck. It’s this leftover strapping. I could shoot my way out, but—”

“Absolutely do not shoot your way out,” says Whirl.

 

The warehouse is a ten-minute walk away. Whirl carries them there in two. Whirl’s dad looks more embarrassed the closer they get. “You don’t gotta bail me out, whirlybird. I can get free my own self.”

“How fast can you do it? Because they’ll find you eventually, and then you’ll get yelled at.”

“I’ve been chewed out by the best! Criticism doesn’t make a dent in me. You know that.”

“And what if they get serious about keeping you out, and I can’t see you again at all?”

Whirl’s dad deflates. When they land outside the warehouse, he hops to the ground, sighs, and pushes a couple stray strands of green hair behind his ear. He rolls the warehouse door aside. “Here we go. Don’t scream, or nothin’.”

The holoform vanishes. Cody blinks at the space where the girl was, and isn’t, anymore. The black mouth of the warehouse yawns. He looks inside.

A single yellow optic glows from twenty feet up. Whirl’s dad is the most alien Cybertronian Cody’s ever seen, all spindly backwards bird legs, pincer claws like knives, and a jutting chest tipped in gun turrets. He has no face. His head cocks on a serpentine neck as he studies Cody, bright optic refocusing. He’s managed to tangle himself in the chains and straps that dangle from the warehouse roof, leftovers of its former purpose.

“Yo,” Whirl’s dad says, in a voice much deeper than the little girl’s, “would you believe this is only the second stupidest thing I’ve done this week?”

Whirl wades in and starts working out the knots. Her dad’s head tips down to meet her. She takes his lack-of-a-face in her hands and examines a deep gouge in the side of his helm. “You’ve got to take better care of yourself, dad.”

“Aw, c’mon. I’m a tough old war machine. Don’t worry about me, whirlybird.”

“You know that makes me worry more, right?”

“A little thing like you shouldn’t be worrying at all.” Whirl’s dad twists to pick at a chain caught between his hip plates. “The flower of your youth, and everything. You should be making friends. Hey, you! Human boy. Cody. How’s Whirl fitting in at the academy? Is everyone being nice? Do I have to bust any heads?”

“Why are you like this?” Whirl grumbles.

“I want to make sure my little girl gets the treatment she deserves. People get mean when you’re different.” His voice softens. “I don’t want anyone to be mean to you.”

“ _Dad_ ,” Whirl groans.

Cody gets close enough to untie the strap that’s worked its way into Whirl’s dad’s knee joint. It’s the second knee, the one that bends in the wrong direction. “Everyone likes Whirl.”

That long neck snakes down. He and Cody are optic to eye, which is kind of terrifying. The optic alone is the size of Cody’s head. Cody leans back. The oversized optic follows. “Are you sure? No bad instructors? No jerk newbuilds thinking they’re better than everyone else?”

“No. Heatwave doesn’t have the most patience, but he doesn’t take it out on us, or anything. People argue but nobody’s mean about it. Whirl will be awesome on a rescue team one day.”

Whirl looks touched. “You really think so?”

“Yeah! You killed it on the obstacle course yesterday. You’re doing great.”

Between the three of them, they untangle Whirl’s dad without wrecking the warehouse or tearing anything down. Where Whirl and Cody fit easily through the doors, Whirl’s dad has to hunch and shuffle as the long spines of his rotors bump into things. Once they’re out, he stretches to his full height to work the kinks out of his frame. He’s enormous. Each of his gun barrels is as thick as Cody’s forearm.

“You should go before someone catches you,” Whirl says, “I’m glad you came to visit, anyway. Even though you probably shouldn’t have.”

“I’ve never done what I should. Remember to wash behind your finials, eat all your heavy metal supplements, and get a good recharge every night. I didn’t do any of those things, and look how I turned out. Cautionary tale.”

Whirl’s dad squints at the bright sky and does the odd little head waggle Cody’s noticed on Whirl, something to do with judging air currents. There’s a resemblance between them, even if it’s nothing to do with biology. The yellow eyes, the similar paint. The same altmode. Whirl’s fashioned herself after him. More than that, it’s the mannerisms. There’s a way Whirl stands when she’s thinking; Cody sees it on her dad, now, as he stares at the sky.

“Whirl,” he asks, “are you happy?”

“I… Yeah,” Whirl says, “I am.”

“Good. That’s all I wanted to know.” Whirl’s dad hesitates. “You be safe, whirlybird.”

He takes off with a kick and the thunderous roaring of engines. His rotors flare; he folds up into a truly intimidating helicopter gunship. Whirl and Cody wave as they watch him go. Soon, he’s a dark speck on the horizon. Cody wonders if Whirl will be that big, one day. He hopes not. They’d need to build a bigger hangar.

Heatwave comes running up the street, datapad waving. “Hey! Our signal just took off. Did you see who that was?”

“No,” Cody says.

“Uh-uh,” says Whirl.

Heatwave squints at them. His optics power down as he claps a hand to his face and sighs. He puts the datapad away. “ _Wendy Bird_. Ugh. Whirl…”

Whirl looks as innocent as possible. “Yes?”

“You know what, never mind. Just don’t let your dad break anything, okay? And tell him to make visiting arrangements like a normal person. It’s not my problem if Optimus Prime gets it in his head to bar him from the academy grounds permanently.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Whirl says. Heatwave looks at her until she hangs her head. “Fine.”

Heatwave turns to Cody. “As for you, you shouldn’t lie. Even if it’s to protect a friend, which I guess is noble… Oh, forget it. You’re both fine, no moral. Don’t do it again.”

They chorus their agreement. Heatwave transforms and departs in the direction of the academy. He leaves them both standing there in front of the warehouse. Cody shades his eyes and looks into the distance, but Whirl’s dad has vanished. Not even the echo of his rotors remains. Whirl stares in the same direction.

“So, can I call you whirlybird?” Cody teases.

“Shut up, no,” Whirl says, and laughs.


End file.
